4510+ Crime Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Feed your fascination with the latest crime short stories. From thrilling accounts of lovable burglars to chilling tales of stone-cold murderers, these bite-sized pieces are so addictive, they should be illegal.

🏆 Winning stories

“Just Another Dead Girl Underwater” by Eliza Leonel

🏆 Winner of Contest #275

Trigger Warning: implications of death, violence and sexual harassment By the time the fisherman finds me, I will have been dead for thirty-three hours, six minutes, and twenty-nine seconds. Eighteen hours since the police declared me missing. Fifteen hours since Zoe told my biology teacher that my tent was empty, that I hadn’t returned from the party we’d snuck out to the night before. Careful, quiet, every twig a possible snitch. It was exhilarating, our hearts pounding, the smell of pine and seaweed thick in the air, and the moon a perfec...

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“Petrified” by Eliza Entwistle

🏆 Winner of Contest #263

You would never have noticed it if you weren’t looking for it. That was precisely the point.The instructions given in my embroidery group had been clear enough: After nightfall, take a stroll on the second lane past the bakery, look for the unlit lamppost and turn down that dark alley, they said in hushed voices, as the pianist began playing in sudden loud fervor, by coincidence. Then you will see a mossy stone staircase, which you will descend, and at the end of it there is a dim hallway. She lives through the set of green doors on the left...

154 likes 104 comments 104

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“When I Read Beckett” by Liz Grosul

🏆 Winner of Contest #241

…in…in this room…cursed room…loved?... cursed…. where she slept…half-grown in her hometown t-shirt…shorts…no shorts…t-shirt worn with holes…on the floor…he having thrown it…under the bed…dust collected and swept and settled again…. and again…who?... he… not she?...gracious!...there for the first time…assuredly last time…no boys in the room, father said…keep out!...nodded her head… but in the room…blue light hugging the window…scotch tape…peeling off the paint whether chipped or freshly laid or…exhumed…he found her in the— no, not found…held…...

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⭐️ Recommended stories

“Lady Boyle's Last Party” by Jack Shoemaker

Submitted to Contest #281

Dunwall. The sprawling capital city of Gristol, home to both royalty and industry alike. Naturally, I was more interested in the former. The Boyle family in particular.Every year, the Boyle sisters held a lavish masquerade ball and invited everyone who’s someone to partake. Though, none but the most discerning can tell who exactly these “someones” are. The triplets have made this fact the main attraction; the guest who manages to identify each of the three by name before dawn is promised a king’s ransom. For ten years I’d been invited to thi...

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“A Rare Gift for Christmas” by Ghost Writer

Submitted to Contest #281

My six-year-old daughter, Mandy, and I were doing some last-minute Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve. She had been well behaved all day as we gal-palled around the mall. I just had one last stop to make before leaving. I wanted to check a department store for a shirt for my mom.I only looked away long enough to compare two articles of clothing. That’s all the time it took for her to disappear. I knew better. I knew how she was, just as all kids are. The ornate tree, the twinkling lights, a toy train delivering presents around the bottom of...

32 likes 14 comments 14

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“The Moral of the Story” by Ian Gonzales

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #277

The guard leading me into the room gives a hard yank on the chain. Pain lances through my neck, and I snarl, baring my impressive fangs for full effect. He shies away, naked fear on his face, before remembering which of us is supposed to be the prisoner.“Watch it, mutt, or you’ll be drinking out of the toilet through a wired jaw,” he says, his tough-guy tone betrayed by the quaver in his voice and the stink of fear in his scent.I snort in contempt. “Oh, please, CO. We both know who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf.”His expression hardens, mouth ...

26 likes 4 comments 4

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✍️ All stories

“Ghosts of Winter Future” by John Rafanelli

Submitted to Contest #281

** Sensitive language, and harm to children. ‘Winterfest’ was always a special holiday for the people of Augusta Cove, Long Island. A small bay town, where everyone knows everyone, all their happy memories along with all of their dark secrets. The yearly festival was a great place to set aside your grievances, and enjoy the magical winter holiday together, as a community.  December 19th, 1999, may be one of the town's most memorable holiday festivals, and not for a good reason. It was the day Rory Falco was murdered. The town spent th...

6 likes 1 comment 1

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“No One Here Gets Out Alive” by James Barrett

Submitted to Contest #281

On planet Xenon, where I’m from, everybody lives forever. Unless somebody kills them. I never killed anyone that didn’t need it.Here on Earth, everybody knows me as Zach. Zach Wheaton. Unbeknownst to the indigenous population, I was sent to Earth from the planet Xenon. I was convicted of several serial killings on Xenon and sentenced to death. The death penalty was abolished on Xenon a few thousand years after Earth was discovered. Here was a planet where all living things, including Xenonians, eventually died naturally. What better place fo...

3 likes 0 comments 0

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“The Sweet Spot” by Lily Finch

Submitted to Contest #281

"Happy Birthday, Mack.""Thanks, Dad.""Since you're 21, I wanted to give you something you'd enjoy. I rented a cabin for you on a lake where there may or may not be other campers for a week.""No way! That's awesome. Thanks, Dad.""It's just for you. Nobody else. Understand?""Sure. Got it.""Okay. The map and the keys are in the glove box of the Jeep. I've also packed some groceries and drinks.""What? I'm leaving now.""Yup. See you next week; bye and enjoy.""Okay then. Thanks again, bye."Mack blasted his music to Lake Wannogonkin, which must hav...

8 likes 2 comments 2

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“The Christmas Murders : A Story Through A Cats Eyes” by Emily Housman

Submitted to Contest #281

Part One "It was a dark, snowy night, Christmas Eve they called it ...a night I'll never be able to forget." The street lights were dimly lit as I wandered around the sidewalks. I was beginning to lose hope. I'd be out in the wind and snow for days with nothing to eat. Belly growling, I took one last look up and down the sidewalk, my feet slightly sticking to the frozen concrete, nose red and sore from the wind, when she scooped me up. "Look Honey, I found this little guy outside on the sidewalk." she said as she carried me th...

1 like 0 comments 0

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“Lady Boyle's Last Party” by Jack Shoemaker

Submitted to Contest #281

Dunwall. The sprawling capital city of Gristol, home to both royalty and industry alike. Naturally, I was more interested in the former. The Boyle family in particular.Every year, the Boyle sisters held a lavish masquerade ball and invited everyone who’s someone to partake. Though, none but the most discerning can tell who exactly these “someones” are. The triplets have made this fact the main attraction; the guest who manages to identify each of the three by name before dawn is promised a king’s ransom. For ten years I’d been invited to thi...

4 likes 0 comments 0

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“An Overcoat, a Flask, and a Crossbow” by Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #281

The sidestreets of Vulane were a tangled web of alleys and forgotten passages, a perfect maze for those who thrived in the shadows. Here, amidst the flickering glow of lanterns and the distant hum of the city’s opulent districts, sat a modest office between a baker and below an apothecary. The worn wooden slab above the door simply read:  “Uresh Greystone: Investigator.” Being an investigator in the City of Lies was like being a captain on a ship that had already sunk three times. Uresh was busy relighting candles in his shop when he st...

6 likes 2 comments 2

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“The Missing pieces” by Natacha Neves

Submitted to Contest #281

Title: The Missing Pieces The package arrived on a gloomy Tuesday. It was small enough to fit in her mailbox.Rain streaked the windowpane as Clara turned the cardboard box over in her hands. There was no return address, just her name in a tidy, cursive script that felt unnervingly familiar. Inside, hidden in white tissue paper, a lock of daek brown hair, with ashy blonde hughlights was tied with a red ribbon. She froze, her breath caught somewhere between disbelief and dread. The color, the texture. it was unmistakably hers. She ran her fing...

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“Arrow” by Sammantha Robinson

Submitted to Contest #281

“Unit 12, K9 Arrow, 10-8, status clear,” my partner, Officer Cole Parker, said over the radio. Something felt different about him that day. He was typically so focused and sharp on the job, but that day, he was much more attentive to me than usual. His gaze lingered on me, and the vibrations from his tight grip on my leash made me feel his anxiety. I tilted my head to the side when dispatch’s response came through. “Unit 12, 10-4. Have a safe shift, and Merry Christmas,” she said, her voice muffled from the radio. The car became quiet. My pa...

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“Tom's or John's or Steve's or Mike's Friend” by Elizabeth Rich

Submitted to Contest #281

The house was lit up inside and out. A ten foot tall Santa stood moored to the front yard, inflated and lit up from within. He was surrounded by a ring of 24-inch wooden elves, each one raising both arms skyward, as if they were worshiping this guy who wore a strange red getup, trimmed out in white fur, who stole into people's homes in the dead of night. He must have been in cahoots with the man who drove the ice cream truck in the summer or some creepy guy in a white panel van who cased neighborhoods for unsuspecting children. How could thi...

2 likes 0 comments 0

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“That night in Central Park” by Monika Denham

Submitted to Contest #281

Closing my Manhattan apartment door behind me, I had no idea what I would be in for this beautiful September evening. I was ready to tackle my regular three mile run in Central Park. It was a routine I followed three evenings a week after work, and I’d found that I didn’t function very well if I skipped it. Tonight, however, I should have done just that. As I entered the not so well-lit area of the park that I always hated running through, I heard footsteps running away from me, into the trees. This made me very suspicious and a little bit a...

4 likes 0 comments 0

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“A Rare Gift for Christmas” by Ghost Writer

Submitted to Contest #281

My six-year-old daughter, Mandy, and I were doing some last-minute Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve. She had been well behaved all day as we gal-palled around the mall. I just had one last stop to make before leaving. I wanted to check a department store for a shirt for my mom.I only looked away long enough to compare two articles of clothing. That’s all the time it took for her to disappear. I knew better. I knew how she was, just as all kids are. The ornate tree, the twinkling lights, a toy train delivering presents around the bottom of...

32 likes 14 comments 14

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“Uninvited” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #281

                     On New Year’s Day private investigator Gary Tomlinson awoke at 7 am and tried to clear the throbbing pain from his head.  He then began mentally reviewing  the strange turn of events from the night before in his mind.     For the third year in a row, Gary had gone to the same country club party to which one of his clients had dragged him.  He only had attended the galas as a gue...

9 likes 0 comments 0

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“Smiles and laughs” by Elon Snow

Submitted to Contest #280

When it comes to fear, Sally Sasso's heard of the emotion many times, but hasn’t felt it once. If you asked her mother why, she’d say it’s her daughter’s fascination with the horror genre. If you asked her friends, they’d say it’s her unsettling contentment around life's terrors, and her drive to seek out monsters who participate in them. If you ask Sally, she’ll say it’s because she dresses like someone who should be undaunted. She believes that since her outfits always include biker boots, black motorcycle trousers, and a red shirt beneath...

2 likes 0 comments 0

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“Capital Punishment: The Game Show” by John Rafanelli

Submitted to Contest #280

*** contains curse words “Helloooo America, are you ready for Capital Punishment?” An eccentric man screams into a gold plated microphone. He’s standing on a vibrant stage in front of a live studio audience.The audience uproars with excitement and glee. “Okay, okay everyone,” the charismatic person continues, calming everyone down. “I’m your host Felix Baldwin.” His silver hair is slicked back. He's the prototypical attractive and cheesy game show host.“Ohh Sandra,” he calls out, extending his arm to the curtain behind him. The crowd go...

5 likes 2 comments 2

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“Stolen” by John Meyers

Submitted to Contest #280

“How are you going to get your Nova back?” Stacy asked.“I’m going to steal it from the police.” Justin said. “What? That’s crazy! You can’t do that!”“Look, it’s your fault it got impounded in the first place. I told you to take it easy and don’t do anything stupid. You were doing sixty in a thirty-five! If you weren’t speeding, they wouldn’t of pulled you over.” Justin turned his attention back to the road and guided the Firebird back into the lane. He concentrated on the road ahead. He was warm in his leather jacket, jeans, and boots. Stacy...

3 likes 1 comment 1

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